1. Drills
  2. Baseball
  3. Fielding

Barehand Roll and Field

Field slow rollers with bare hands to learn soft hands and getting low.

By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated October 30, 2026

Set up

Your partner rolls the ball slowly from 15 feet.

Core: Medium. Beat your own best of clean plays out of 10.

Ages
7 and up
Time
8 min
Players
You and a partner
Space
Yard or field
Bring
Ball, partner
Level · skill
Beginner · Fielding

The steps

How it works

  1. Your partner rolls the ball slowly from 15 feet.
  2. Get low and field it out in front with two bare hands.
  3. Bring it to your belly, then toss it back.
  4. Do 25 rolls.

Coaching point

Hands out front, give with the ball.

Safety: Use a soft training ball for barehand work.

Make it fun

Play it, don't drill it

Game version

Fielding game: a partner rolls ground balls and you field and throw to a cone. The pair counts clean plays, then swaps.

Challenge

Pick a level: Less (slow rolls), Core (medium), More (to your sides). Beat your own best of clean plays out of 10.

Story

You are the shortstop in the big game, and every clean play is a big play.

My best

Beat your own count

Beat your own best of clean plays out of 10. Only your own number counts: today against last time.

Practice makes progress

Print it now, or save it free

Free for families and teams

Save this drill to your child or team, free

Sign up and the free baseball week for this age opens in your child's planner, kept to healthy limits. A coach can send this drill to the whole team as homework, and parents see every session logged.

14 days free for a family, no card · Running a team is always free

Does your child's coach know about this?

An email from you to the coach, with the words ready. Nothing is tracked and nobody is rewarded.